Key Takeaways
- Under AB 2499, effective Jan. 1, 2025, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act provides workplace protections for employees and their family members who have survived qualifying acts of violence.
- California employers with 25 or more employees must also provide time off work for certain activities related to the violence.
- Employers must provide employees with written notice of their rights under this new law. The model notice is now available.
The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) recently published new guidance in the form of FAQs regarding AB 2499 – the Survivors of Violence and Family Members of Victims Right to Leave and Accommodations law. Previously, California Labor Code Sections 230 and 230.1 provided protections for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and certain other crimes, as well as time off to serve on a jury or comply with a subpoena. Under AB 2499, these protections are now part of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and will be enforced by the CRD. See Cal. Gov. Code § 12945.8. Under AB 2499, time off is now allowed for obtaining relief not just from a “crime or abuse” but also from a “qualifying act of violence,” which is defined as any of the following:
- Domestic violence
- Sexual assault
- Stalking
- Acts, conduct or a pattern of conduct involving injury or death
- Acts, conduct or a pattern of conduct involving a firearm (gun) or another dangerous weapon
- Acts, conduct or a pattern of conduct involving threats of injury or death
In its FAQs, the CRD reiterates that it does not matter whether anyone has been arrested for, prosecuted for or convicted of the qualifying act of violence.
Additionally, family members of victims may take time off to obtain relief from a qualifying act of violence. The definition of “family member” now follows the FEHA definition, which includes an employee’s child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, domestic partner or designated person. As noted in the new FAQs, a designated person can be someone related by blood, such as an aunt or uncle, or someone who is equivalent of a family member, such as a best friend. Employers may limit employees to taking leave for one designated person in a 12-month period.
Further, “obtaining relief” includes a broad range of activities, including taking time to obtain restraining orders, seeking medical attention, obtaining certain services or counseling, relocating, enrolling children in a new school, obtaining legal services and participating in safety planning.
Depending on the circumstances, employers may limit the amount of leave employees can take under the new law. First, a victim of a qualifying act of violence may take no more than 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Second, when an employee’s family member is a victim of a nonfatal crime, the employee may take no more than 10 days of leave. Third, if an employee’s family member is a victim of a nonfatal crime and the employee takes leave for the limited purpose of relocating or securing a new residence and enrolling a child in a new school or child care program, the employee may take no more than five days of leave.
Employees are not only able to take time off if they or a family member experiences a qualifying act of violence, but they are also eligible for reasonable accommodations, which may include, among other things, transfer, reassignment, modified schedule or changed work telephone number.
As noted in our previous client alert, AB 2499 also required the CRD to create and publish a model notice of employees’ rights under the law. The model notice is now available here. As a reminder, notice must be provided to all employees upon hire, annually, at any time upon request and any time an employee informs an employer that the employee or the employee’s family member is a victim of a qualifying act of violence.
Employers should review their policies and workplace notices to ensure compliance with AB 2499.
[View source.]
